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Dracula/Hammer Horror
Category:Characters | aliases = | film = | franchise = Hammer Horror | image = | notability = | type = | race = | gender = | base of operations = Klausenburg Castle Dracula, Transylvania | known relatives = | status = | born = | died = 1973 | 1st appearance = Dracula (1958) | final appearance = Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974) | actor = Christopher Lee John Forbes-Robertson }} Dracula is a fictional vampire and the titular antagonist featured with the Dracula multimedia franchise. The character is based on a fictional creature created by Irish playwright and author Bram Stoker and first appeared in Stoker's seminal 1897 novel, Dracula. The vampire Dracula is loosely inspired by Vlad Tepes, who was an actual historical figure who ruled the kingdom of Wallachia in the mid-late 15th century. This version of Dracula was played by actor Christopher Lee and first appeared in the 1958 film adaptation of Dracula by Hammer Film Productions titled, Horror of Dracula. Lee reprised the role of Dracula for six more sequels, with his last performance being 1973's The Satanic Rites of Dracula. The character did make one follow-up appearance as a disembodied spirit in the 1974 movie Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, but this time around, it was actor John Forbes-Robertson behind the fangs. Biography Horror of Dracula Little is known of the true origins of the man known only as Dracula, save that he was a powerful vampire of noble bearing who hailed from the European territory of Transylvania in Romania. Dracula lived in an ancient castle in the mountains, not far from the village of Klausenburg. He had at least one vampire bride enslaved to him, forced to live with him at the castle. In May of 1885, Dracula solicited the services of a librarian named Jonathan Harker to come visit the castle to index all of Dracula's vast volumes of texts. Harker knew full well what Dracula was and had secretly agreed to go to the castle with the intent of destroying him. Harker arrived at the castle just before sundown. Dracula was unavailable to greet him, but had a meal prepared for him in his absence. Dracula arrived in the dining hall after sundown and addressed Jonathan. After conversing for a bit, he showed him to his room, making a point to state that he would be unavailable to assist him during the daylight hours. Jonathan showed Dracula a cameo of his fiance, Lucy Holmwood. Though Dracula kept his emotions in check, he became instantly enamored with the young woman. shows Dracula a picture of Lucy.]] Harker eventually discovered the young dark-haired woman who also resided in the castle. Though she pretended to be in great duress, she was merely angling to get close to Harker so she could feed upon him. Dracula appeared in the room and lunged at the vampire woman, enraged that she should try to bite his guest. Grabbing her by the wrist, he violently threw her onto the floor. Jonathan tried to protect the woman, but Dracula overpowered him. He awakened in his bedroom hours later with fresh puncture wounds upon his neck. Investigating the lower crypts of Dracula's castle, he found the woman's coffin and drove a wooden stake into her heart. He was too late to do the same to Dracula however, for as the sun went down, Dracula awakened and made Harker his next vampire victim. .]] Still smitten with the idea of entrancing Mina Holmwood, Dracula left the castle and went into Klausenburg. He found where Mina had been living and used his vampire mesmerism to seduce her. By this point, Lucy's brother, Arthur Holmwood, and Jonathan's colleague, Professor Van Helsing, were aware of Lucy's condition and suspected that a vampire was responsible. Van Helsing took measures to keep Lucy free of Dracula's influence, but as it turned out, Dracula was able to gain entrance into Lucy's bedroom and took her as his undead bride. Van Helsing and Arthur Holmwood followed Lucy into a churchyard the following evening. Driving her back towards her crypt, Van Helsing was able to finish her off with a stake through the heart. With Lucy gone, Dracula began making his move on Arthur's wife, Mina. After biting her and drinking some of her blood, he hypnotized her into helping him procure shelter, and he relocated his coffin to the cellar of the Holmwood estate. Arthur and Van Helsing scoured the countryside trying to track down Dracula's whereabouts, but it wasn't until Arthur's housekeeper, Gerda, told them that Mina had expressly forbidden anyone from entering the cellar that they knew where their enemy could be found. Van Helsing ran down into the cellar and found Dracula's empty coffin. Dracula barged in, but upon seeing Van Helsing, snarled then ran away. Van Helsing placed a cross inside the coffin, insuring that Dracula could never return to it. Dracula abducted Mina and began traveling back towards his castle. Van Helsing and Arthur took another carriage and tried to catch up with him. Dracula was losing time however as the sun was threatening to rise soon. When Arthur and Van Helsing got to the castle, they found Dracula burying the still-conscious Mina inside of a shallow grave. Van Helsing chased after the vampire, who discarded Mina in favor of finding sanctuary in his castle. The two raced about the dining hall and Van Helsing pulled down a pair of drapes, allowing sunlight to come flooding in. Forming a cross from two candlesticks, he forced Dracula to back up into the cone of sunlight. Unable to move, Dracula turned to dust before Van Helsing's eyes. A breeze entered through the open window, scattering Dracula's ashes. Although Van Helsing was content to think that Dracula was gone forever, it would only be a matter of time before he learned just how wrong he was. Notes & Trivia * The character of Dracula was created by director Terence Fisher and screenwriter Jimmy Sangster based on concepts originally developed by Bram Stoker. * Christopher Lee only had thirteen lines of dialogue in Horror of Dracula, all of which were exchanges with Jonathan Harker. Hammer Films.com; Dracula; Trivia. * When Dracula is first seen rising from his coffin in Horror of Dracula, he goes off to clean the blood smears from his lip before returning to kill Jonathan Harker. * The contact lenses that Christopher Lee was required to wear during his "red eye" scenes in Horror of Dracula greatly impaired his vision. During one of the more physical moments, he ran right into actress Valerie Gaunt, dashing her upon the floor. * The prop cape worn by Christopher Lee in this film went missing for more than thirty years. It eventually popped up at a costumers named Angels in London in 2007. It has since been authenticated. See also External Links * * Dracula at Wikipedia * Dracula at the Villains Wiki * Dracula at the Dracula Wiki * Dracula at the Vampires Wiki References ---- Category:1973/Character deaths Category:Dracula (1958)/Characters Category:Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966)/Characters Category:Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968)/Characters Category:Scars of Dracula (1970)/Characters Category:Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)/Characters Category:Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)/Characters Category:Satanic Rites of Dracula, The (1973)/Characters Category:Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)/Characters Category:Christopher Lee Category:John Forbes-Robertson